Jailhouse Goons Make Fun Of and Kill a Mentally Ill Inmate

It takes a twisted individual to delight in the sufferings of the mentally ill. A special type of sick, sadistic bully. The kind employed in spades by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

The December 16 killing of Army veteran Marty Atencio is the latest example of the above, one of the most recent in a string of corpses that punctuates the timeline of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's nearly 20-year career as this county's top lawman.

As reported last week in my Feathered Bastard blog, the Atencio family's attorney, Mike Manning, has filed notices of claim, totaling $20 million, with both the city of Phoenix and Maricopa County in Atencio's brutal demise at the hands of Phoenix cops and MCSO detention officers working in the Fourth Avenue Jail.

MCSO

Army vet Marty Atencio (bottom right) dies naked in a "safe cell" after a jailhouse beat-down and multiple Tasings, while MCSO detention officers and a Phoenix cop joke, dance, and laugh.

Since the 44-year-old's death occurred just hours after the U.S. Department of Justice issued its scathing report on the MCSO's pattern of discriminatory policing, racial profiling, and abuse of Latinos in Joe's gulags, much has been revealed about the circumstances surrounding the Atencio homicide.

The county medical examiner's autopsy noted Atencio's history of mental illness and hospitalization for psychosis.

Toxicology results from specimens, including those taken at St. Joseph's Hospital hours after Atencio's arrest earlier that day, showed no illicit drugs in Atencio's system.

Phoenix Police Department reports reveal that Atencio generally was passive and compliant during the two encounters with Phoenix cops that culminated in his arrest on December 15.

Indeed, Atencio "showed no signs of being a danger to himself or others," according to Phoenix Officer Sarah Roberts.

Rather, Atencio "simply appeared to be not medicated and engaged in very random conversation," Roberts said.

Atencio was arrested in West Phoenix for scaring a resident, Cathy Boyd, after kicking the apartment door of her neighbor.

Manning quotes from Boyd's affidavit recounting details of the incident:

"Marty did not physically threaten me at any time . . . I knew there was something wrong with him, and I just wanted him to . . . get some help."

Apparently, Atencio was treated well until he was taken to Arpaio's infamous jail, where cruelty is king and an idiotic environment pervades.

The most damning evidence of Atencio's mistreatment comes from interviews with detention officers and Phoenix cops carried out within days, sometimes within hours, of Atencio's beat-down and Tasing, referred to euphemistically by the Medical Examiner's Office as a "law enforcement subdual."

The interviews were done by MCSO detectives. Manning's law office obtained them through a public-records request.

Apparently, Atencio's mind at the time was like that of a child's. Disoriented, spouting nonsensical comments, he often referred to himself in the third person as "Tony" and seemed to be mimicking Robin Williams' character in Good Morning, Vietnam.

Some detention officers and cops thought Atencio was on drugs, claiming that he told someone during his stay in Fourth Avenue that he had smoked meth earlier in the day.

But toxicology reports don't lie. Cops and detention officers are another story. Soon after Atencio was taken, brain dead, to St. Joe's, they were making assumptions to rationalize their behavior.

Thing is, the breakdown in law enforcement discipline — including a Phoenix cop's pushing Atencio with his cuffed hands bent awkwardly and painfully — cannot be rationalized.

It also included MCSO detention officers mocking and humiliating Atencio as they took his mug shot.

"They encouraged him to make funny faces and . . . kept saying, 'Let's make this one the Mug Shot of the Week,'" one witness said.

Another witness noted that when they took Atencio's picture, "It was a big joke" and "they all stood around and laughed about it."

This hilarity turned deadly once Atencio was surrounded by officers demanding that he remove his shoes. When in Phoenix custody, cops had gotten Atencio to take off his shoes by just being patient and repeating their request. Here, Phoenix police and MCSO guards were far from patient.

Two Phoenix police officers who were there to help process detainees initiated what Manning calls a "jailers' riot," even though Atencio was standing before them, arms crossed, presenting no threat.

The notice of claim identifies the Phoenix cops as Patrick Hanlon and Nicholas French.

Several MCSO gendarmes joined the fray, in what one onlooker called "a big ol' dog pile." Though Atencio was smothered by officers, MCSO Sergeant Jason Weiers Tased Atencio several times.

Anthony Hatton, a detention officer who since has left the MCSO, punched Atencio in the face three times. Hatton claimed the strikes were necessary, but a couple of his fellow guards did not agree.

Working in jails and prisons sucks pretty bad. A majority of the inmates are supreme assholes. It becomes a us vs them situation. Most jailers believe they have to be the meanest gang in the joint. Its a mob mentality that's only understood when you walked down a cell block.

Smacks of Kelly Thomas from Calie. Only they killed him out in the open in front of witnesses and it was recorded. Two of the pigs are going to go to jail for a long time. The other 7 have pending charges.
This kind of thing happens all over the USA and needs to be stoped. Take a look at copblock.org to see how your rights are being s()t on by cops that think that they can and will do what ever they want to you or any one else that they want. You have to watch your back arround cops.

have you ever tried to get an adult family member mental help when they are too sick to accept it? my family tried desperately for more than 20 years to get my uncle the help he needed. he was homeless and on the streets for years at a time, being constantly arrested for minor crimes. at least when he was in jail we knew where he was. you cannot commit an adult, in this state at least, until they are declared a danger to themselves or others. he wasn't "dangerous crazy", just "crazy crazy", so we were out of luck. the police always assumed he was on drugs when he got picked up; i've read all the reports, no one once suggested he might have had mental problems. no matter how hard a family tries, they are fighting against the system.

arpaoi is a piece of shit and those assholes who murdered this man need to be exterminated my god how can anyone just sit by...I just don't get it....a concern for this murdered man's naked body and not one comment about the lowlifes running this godforsaken dump

This is more MCSO Bullshit. When are we as voters and citezens of Maricopa county and Arizona going to say enough is enough. please go ahead you that are in law enforcement step forward to give or make excuses for this. Ya their is none. MCSO Sergeant Jason Weiers Conspiracy to commit Murder, Patrick Hanlon and Nicholas French Murderers, Can I say Free and clear Legal Murder!!!!!!!!

This is more MCSO Bullshit. When are we as voters and citezens of Maricopa county and Arizona going to say enough is enough. please go ahead you that are in law enforcement step forward to give or make excuses for this. Ya their is none. MCSO Sergeant Jason Weiers Conspiracy to commit Murder, Patrick Hanlon and Nicholas French Murderers, Can I say Free and clear Legal Murder!!!!!!!!

Maybe he isn't a corrupt pile of shit??? Just kidding...I have no doubt that the majority of MCSO deputies, CO's, and PPD officers are dedicated professionals. Why do you think at least 2 other CO's and a PPD officer, told investigators the truth in the Atencio investigation...he never represented a threat and there was no excuse for the force used on him!! PPD Officer Chrisman would not be on trial for murder right now had his partner just followed the blue line and lied.

WTF -Tom did you have the sack to serve your country (liberal propaganda) fuck you! you are beneath the shit I scrape from my shoe. Marty served his country and was killed by a bunch of filthy American hating jellyfish pussy's that don't have enough spine to actually serve their country, big men, it took like 20 of them to take one America hero.
Laughing because they killed and American soldier and you call this liberal propaganda, I would love to get you in a room alone and discuss this, you fucking asshole, you have no respect for America or the hero's who protect it!